Essential Question: How do you create innovative and newsworthy story ideas?

Agenda: 
1. Start your Google Doc for today with a list of the following:

• 3 things you are passionate about
• 2 things you know are in the news right now
• 1 question you have about life, society or the universe

2. Read at least one of the following news outlets for the next ten minutes. List at least three topics that you came across.

• The Salt Lake Tribune
• The Deseret News
• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• NPR
• The Huffington Post
• Vox

Answer the following questions:

• What about these topics caught your attention?
• How is the reporter covering this topic in depth or in new/interesting ways?

3. For 15 minutes, research what each news value means in relation to journalism and news writing, and come up with two examples of story ideas that fit these values. You may work with partners.
Research the following news values and come up with the definition and an example for each:

• timeliness
• impact
• proximity
• tension/conflict
• prominence
• human interest

4. On your whiteboard, create a story web, based on topics that currently interest you and you could interview people with author over this topic about.

5. Write a story proposal for your chosen topic. Include:

• Six-Word Summary of your story
• Include the angle or focus of your story: What are you going to focus on? How is this focus new and/or different than what's already out there?
• Give two reasons why this story is newsworthy (check slides and defend why your story is newsworthy)
• List three primary sources (people you would interview in person) of authority who you are planning to interview.
• List two secondary sources you would consult (online sources, documents, news articles, etc.)

6. Exit Ticket: Why do you want to write this story? Justify your answer and talk about how your story is unique and not something that has already be done. Write 3-5 sentences.

​Assignments:​

• Current Events
• News Values notes
• Story Ideas
• Story Proposals
• Exit Ticket

Essential Question: How can you use in-depth interviews to write engaging profile stories about your peers?

Agenda:
Follow the instructions on the slides below. Title your document "Humans of T-Ville Edits" and copy/paste your rough draft into this document, so you can continue working on it.

Assignments:

• Formatting Quotes Bell Work
• Humans of T-Ville Rough Draft
• Humans of T-Ville Edits
  • Use: Hemingway and Grammarly to improve your writing
• Exit Ticket

Essential Question: How can you use in-depth interviews to write engaging profile stories about your peers?

Agenda:
1. You are going to use the interviews you have conducted to write a 300-500 word profile story about the person you interviewed. 
Check out the following three examples of a profile story from The Warrior Ledger:

• Spotlight: Jared De Leon
• Spotlight: Ana Zamora
• Spotlight: Jesse Curtis
• Profile: Mary Ward

2. After reading, list the following in your document:

• 3 things you learned about the students portrayed in these articles
• 2 things you learned about how to write profile stories like this from reading them
• 1 thing you want to try in your own profile story

3. Outline your profile story in your Google doc. Consider the following:

• What are some overall topics or themes that came up in your interview? (For example: friendships, life experiences, passions, memories, etc.)
• How do you want to start the story?
• What's the most interesting or unusual bit you learned about your person from their interview?
• What quotes from your interview are you going to use and in which order will you use them?
• What other information or research do you need?

 4. Write a rough draft of your profile story. Aim for 300-500 words and use your quotes from the interview as well as any background information or other details you can add to transition from one quote to the next.

5. Exit Ticket:

• What overarching theme or topic did you pick for your profile story?
• What is the strongest point in your story?
• What is something you need to edit or refine?

Assignments:

• Notes on profile story from The Warrior Ledger
• Outline
• Rough Draft
• Exit Ticket

Essential Question: How can you use in-depth interviews to write engaging profile stories about your peers?

Agenda:

1. For the first 30 minutes, go to School City and take the ELA 12th Grade Semester 2 Pre Test. Take your time and read questions and possible answers carefully.

For this period, continue working in the same document as last class period.

2. For 15 minutes, finish transcribing your interviews from last period.

3. With one color in your Google Doc, highlight quotes you thought were particularly interesting.
With a second color, highlight everything you feel like you need clarification or more information on.

4. You are going to use the interviews you have conducted to write a 300-500 word profile story about the person you interviewed. 
Check out the following three examples of a profile story from The Warrior Ledger:

• Spotlight: Jared De Leon
• Spotlight: Ana Zamora
• Spotlight: Jesse Curtis

After reading, list the following in your document:

• 3 things you learned about the students portrayed in these articles
• 2 things you learned about how to write profile stories like this from reading them
• 1 thing you want to try in your own profile story

5. Outline your profile story in your Googe doc. Consider the following:

• How do you want to start the story?
• What's the most interesting or unusual bit you learned about your person from their interview?
• What quotes from your interview are you going to use and in which order will you use them?
• What other information or research do you need?

6. Exit Ticket:

• What about your interview with your person would work well as a hook for your story?
• What ideas from the quotes you got from your person do you want to highlight in this story?
• What's something you still need to know or conduct additional research on?

Assignments:
Submit this as: "Profile Story Outline" on Canvas:

• Transcript of your interview
• Highlights in your transcript
• Responses to the three profile articles you read
• Outline
• Exit Ticket

Essential Question: How can effective interview questions help you get to know somebody's story?

Agenda:
Title your Google Doc for today: "Humans of T-Ville Interviews"

1. For 10 minutes, read through as many of the interviews on the Humans of New York website as you can. Choose three that left a particular impact on you.

For the next 10 minutes, answer the following questions:

• Which 3 stories stood out to you and why?
• What question or questions do you think the interviewer asked this person?
• What about their responses was surprising to you?
• How did the interviewer show this person's story?
• What was your emotional response to the stories you read? What are you taking away from them?

2. For 10 minutes, check over your 5-10 interview questions that you came up with last period. How could you add to or improve them to truly get to know whoever you are interviewing? Add possible follow-up questions that can help you get more in depth answers or clarification.

3. Partner up with someone who has the same color, type, brand (etc.) of SHOE as you have. Make sure your chosen partner is NOT someone you already know extremely well. You will be given 10 minutes to interview them. PLEASE RECORD YOUR INTERVIEWS ON YOUR PHONE OR CHROMEBOOK, to get exactly what the person you are interviewing is saying. After 10 minutes, you will switch and your partner will interview you.

For best results, please follow these rules:

• Talk as openly and honestly as you can.
• Listen actively and ask follow-up questions as needed.
• Don't be judgmental. The goal of this is to get personal, so don't shut down your interview partner.

4. After your interview, listen to and transcribe your interviews on your Google Doc for today. This might take a while, but the point is to make sure to get exactly what your partner has told you and to review the interview to identify the parts that were particularly insightful, interesting, and/or powerful.

5. Exit Ticket:

• What was your experience as the person conducting the interview like?
• What was your experience as the person being interviewed?
• What new and/or interesting things did you learn about your partner?
• Anything you would do differently if you did this interview again with the same person?

Assignments:
Submit your document to the "Humans of T-Ville Interviews" assignment on Canvas:

• Humans of NY responses
• Your Interview questions
• Your interview transcript
• Exit Ticket

Essential Question: How can you improve your active listening skills and how can this improve your interviews?

Agenda:
1. Go to kahoot.it to take the English 12 Disclosure Quiz.

2. Warm-Up: On a sticky note, write down ONE open-ended question that would help you truly get to know someone else's STORY.

• In your group, ask each group member your question and actively listen to your group's answers
• Once you are done, as a group, decide which question you feel is the most effective, giving you the most insight into other people's stories.
• Visit with each group and list the question each group chose in your Google Doc. You will need them for your Exit Ticket.

3. Think-Pair-Share: With an elbow partner, talk about what your definition of "active listening" is:

• What do you do when you actively listen?
• What does this look like?
• What does this feel like to everyone involved? 

4. Quickwrite: In your Google Doc, answer the following questions:

• Why is listening to others powerful for us personally?
• Why is being listened to powerful for us personally?
• Why is listening to others difficult sometimes?
• What are some things we can do to make others feel like we’re really listening to them?

5. In the next 10 minutes, draft about 5 open-ended questions that could help you really get to know someone else's story, whether you already know them or not.

6. Exit Ticket: Choose one of the questions selected by the groups from #2 to answer. Write for five minutes.

Assignments:

• Kahoot
• Sticky Note Question
• On your Google Doc (use the same "Effective Interviews" doc from last time and submit this to the assignments with the same title on Canvas):
  • Quickwrite
  • Interview Questions
  • Exit Ticket

​Essential Question: How do you really get to know your peers and conduct effective interviews?

Agenda:
1. Make a Name Tag (see slides for directions):

2. Interview Warm-Up: Choose one question from NPR's Story Corps Great Questions list and write it on an index card.
Get up and find someone who is not sitting at your table. Ask them the question on your card. Give them your card once they answered. They will do the same with your card. Once you have finished talking to the first person, find a new person to ask the question you have on your new index card. Repeat this until you have spoken to at least three different people.

3. Debrief: What were some of the questions that stood out to you? What responses surprised you?

4. Watch the Four Tips for an Effective Interview video below. How did the questions from the warm-up relate to these tips?

5. Watch this animated interview between 12-year-old Joshua Littman and his mother Sarah. Which questions stood out to you as effective? You can also read the transcript of the interview here and add effective questions to your doc.

6. Peer Interview Assignment. You will have 5 minutes to interview one of your peers. After five minutes, they will interview you. For 7 minutes, brainstorm some effective questions, following the tips for effective interviews, that could really help you get to know this person and to learn more deeper level information or life experiences from them.

7. Debrief: Answer the following questions in your Google Doc:

• What was it like to interview a peer?
• Which of the interviewing tips did you use, and how did it help you as the interviewer?
• As an interviewee, did you feel that the interviewer truly heard your answers? If so, what did the interviewer do or ask to make you believe this?
• What more could an interviewer do to show you that they are truly listening to you?

Assignments:

• New Students: return signed disclosure slip by next period
• Everyone: Turn in your name tag and submit your notes and questions from today to the "Effective Interviews" assignment on Canvas

1. Complete this Semester Survey here.

2. Go to weebly.com and make sure the following is done on your e-portfolio:

• Update your PROJECTS page with your Letter to Representative
• On your HOME page, make sure you have a quick introduction of yourself and what this site is about
• On the BLOG page, add a new post titled "English 12 Semester 1 Reflection" and write 200-250 words to reflect on what you have accomplished this semester. Include answers to the following questions:
  • What did you accomplish this semester?
  • What are you proudest of?
  • What helped you get  there?
  • What did you struggle with?
  • What are your plans to improve next semester?
  • What is one goal you have for the rest of the school year?
• Double-check your e-portfolio and make sure all text elements have been customized and that there is no blank content or filler text; same for images. Please use your own images or go to the following sites to find free photos:
  • Pexels.com
  • Pixabay
  • Unsplash

Go to School City and take the ELA 12th Grade Semester 1 Post Benchmark.

• You have the entire period to take the test.
• Focus on each question and read each question clearly.
• No talking or phones.